Fallen Stars
by Wolf Aerith
Summary: On her adventures since she left the vault, Anastasia has never met anyone quite like Charon. Can she warm his icy heart, or is he forever just her loyal bodyguard? CharonxVaultie
1. Chapter 1 Meeting

Charon.

He saw her come in from across the room. It was his job to notice, to punish, and to keep this shit place clean of filth. She was different. Not only was she a smooth-skin, she was kind to the ghouls, unlike most. She looked around, and their eyes met. Shit.

Anastasia.

He had to know something. If anyone in a bar knows something, it's the guy in the corner or the bartender, so she sidled up to him.

"Hello." Was all she got out before he grunted,

"Talk to Azrukhal." She blinked.

"I just-"

"Talk to Azrukhal." She was silent for a moment, but then she turned and went to the bar to talk to Azrukhal.

Charon.

Why should he care what she thinks? Somehow he couldn't help but wish he could hear what she was saying to that bastard behind the bar. He grumbled. He'd kill that son of a bitch someday. The murmur of Ghouls talking over their jet and beer tormented him, and the sound of the stranger's smooth, clear voice came through the noise refreshingly. Money exchanged hands; she sold him booze, he sold her stimpacks. Charon decided he'd stop caring. She'd be gone in the morning, killed by Super Mutants. He'd see her strewn all over the sidewalk next time he went out for a smoke. He'd like to see Azrukhal all over the sidewalk.

Anastasia.

She approached him for the second time. But he had strict orders.

"Talk to-"

"None of that, buddy. You've got a new employer as of now." She waves his contract around in front of his face, and then puts it in her pack, looking at him expectantly. It takes a moment for him to react.

"Excuse me for a moment." He says, brushing past her.

She hardly hears the argument before Azrukhal is all over the wall in little chunks. She quietly grabs some caps and his keys when nobody is looking, and heads out, with him in her wake.

Charon.

This could be very good, or very, very bad. But he shows no emotion.

Anastasia.

When they are out in the museum lobby, she turns to him and holds out her hand. He doesn't take it.

"My name's Anastasia." She tells him, smiling. How can she smile in the middle of an apocalypse, having just seen a man strewn all over the walls? Even she has no idea.

"I'm looking for my father, but exploring along the way. I need to learn all there is to learn about this place." She explains, and he doesn't get it, but then he remembers the radio, and recognizes the description of the 'saint from out of the vault.' He says nothing.


	2. Chapter 2 Plans

They travel together, and learn about each other.

She's got a good shot, but he's better. He looks good in hats, but she prefers a bandanna. She hates fighting humans, but is good at rad-scorpions and the like. He can't stand robots, but takes out feral ghouls like no other. She prefers stealth and can snipe like the pros, he prefers to barge in and kill outright.

They've got a lot in common.

They can't stand the asses in Tenpenny Towers, but would love to live there. They don't like traveling in the open at night. They both like her dog, Dogmeat, but don't want to take him along on missions. They both ignore the rads they get and eat whatever the hell they want, and they both think the radio is annoying as hell when Three Dog shouts.

They didn't talk much.

It was agreed upon that he would have the extra storage room in her house for his own, and that he was welcome to come and go in town as long as he was around when she need him. Due to his nature, he didn't stray from her often.

"Let's reclaim the mall." She said one day, as they were both sitting in her living room. Wadsworth, her robotic butler was cleaning up from their dinner, Dogmeat was sleeping in the corner, Charon was cleaning and repairing his favorite weapon (a combat shotgun) and Anastasia had been reading up on history in a book she'd found in one of the mall's museums. "We could make it semi-safe again. Even start a new settlement or something!"

Charon sat silent.

"We could do this! We've taken on whole hordes of these people!"

More silence.

"When?"

"Tomorrow we can leave and make our ways through the subways. I've got ties at GNR, so we could stay the night there, then be in the mall by the next day and start taking people out."

He looked down at his shotgun.

"Whatever you wish."

"I wish you would tell me what you think."

"…"

"Charon?"

"We'll leave in the morning."

And no more was said about the ordeal.


	3. Chapter 3 Complications

They didn't go straight to the mall. After some bribing at the bar that night, Anastasia learned of a group of escaped slaves hoping to move into the Lincoln Memorial, so they headed out to inform them that they would clear out the ruins (for a minimal fee, of course).

They finally arrived at the memorial a day behind their schedule, and Charon was itching to kill. One of the salvers invited Anastasia inside to talk to Leroy Walker, the head slaver, about certain missing slaves, but they instructed Charon to stay outside. He killed all the slavers on the outside, then slammed the door open to find Anastasia looting the bodies of three more dead slavers. She grinned at him.

"How about dinner?" she asked, motioning to a table, set for three with Nuka-Cola and noodles.

They ate it all.

After burning the bodies, they decided that that night they would stay the night in the slaver's meeting room, as it was very secure and nearby for when they de-booby trapped the place the next day. They avoided the subject of the single mattress until after night fell.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

"Nonsense, Charon." Anastasia objected. "If anything, you'll sleep in one of these chairs."

He fell asleep on the mattress while she was reading a book on Lincoln she'd found on the shelves.

The chair broke.

"Move over." She whispered to him, and he groaned, rolling over in a haze. She curled up next to him, and neither of them said a word.

The next morning his arms were around her waist, and he was cradling her close to him, her head resting in the crook of his neck. They parted hastily and got to work.


	4. Chapter 4 A Heated Conversation

That afternoon the escaped slaves arrived, as expected, and got to work restoring the place and making it livable.

"Please, feel free to stay here as long as you like." Hannibal, the freed slaves leader replied with a smile when Anastasia explained their plan.

The slaves scavenged mattresses from the surrounding wastes, and they had a few they'd brought along with them from their old hideout. Anastasia and Charon dragged theirs over by one of the fires to discuss plans. They decided to take on the trenches on the other side of the monument next, which were filled with Super Mutants.

Anastasia flopped down to go to bed, but Charon moved over to the bonfire with the others for a drink. He sat by one of the men and took a swig of beer.

"So, how'd you score that?" one of the guys asked, motioning toward Anastasia's sleeping form.

"What?"

"Well you're…y'know, not exactly beautiful, no offense, and she's pretty damn smokin'."

"Wait. You think we're together?"

"Aren't you?"

"No."

"So you've never done anything?"

"That's correct."

"Nothing? You're just traveling together?"

"Yes."

"So…she's single?" Charon glared at the guy.

"Not at all." He left.

The sun hadn't risen yet when Charon woke Anastasia. He said nothing, just handed her weapons. She pulled out her laser rifle and stood up, and the two headed out.


	5. Chapter 5 The Trenches

It was hell. For five hours straight they killed their way through the Super Mutants' trenches and they still kept coming.

Anastasia was running out of stimpacks, and Charon was running out of ammo. They decided to retreat and regroup at Lincoln Memorial, where the rest of their stuff was stashed in the old slaver's room.

On the way back, she popped some Rad-X and jumped into the reflecting pool.

"To get some of the mutant guts off."

He watched her, and said nothing, but waded silently behind her. That is, until she tripped on the goop covering the floor of the reflecting pool and fell into him.

She laughed for several minutes about it and teased him for catching her as they headed to the memorial.

"You were expecting it, weren't you?"

"…always do."

They ate, and restocked. While Charon was patching his armor, he noticed the guy from the night before talking to Anastasia animatedly, and growled. The guy was not good enough to be with her. He had no idea who she was. When the guy came along that was right for her, Charon promised himself he'd make sure everything went…smoothly. It meant nothing, he knew. They were just talking. Not that he really cared.

They cleared out several of the Mutie tunnels and secured several of their gunning spots. Anastasia had since traded her laser pistol for a minigun and was cutting her way through hordes. Charon was covering her ass. Finally, hours later as the sun set, no more Mutants remained.

Anastasia and Charon exhaustedly trudged toward the Lincoln Memorial, exhausted.

"That was awesome."

"Awesome? You're asking to get killed." Charon replied.

"Admit it, you loved it. I see it in your eyes."

"Whatever."

"We're skipping the museums."

"What?"

"I want to start our siege on the capital building."

"…"

"You up for it?"

"Yes."

"Good." she laughed.


	6. Chapter 6 Savior of the Wastes

They arrived back at the Memorial to find their beds taken up by two bleeding wastelanders, and they found themselves surrounded by a lot more people than they remembered.

"Thank god you're here!" Hannibal cried when he saw them.

"A caravan of new settlers was coming in today, but a lot of them got caught in crossfire at the capital building, please help these two so no more die!"

Anastasia jumped into action, grabbing some stimpacks and immediately addressing the main wounds.

"Charon, I need some cloth!"

Charon immediately ran to the old slaver's room where their stuff was and ran back with a few outfits, which he shredded with his combat knife. Within half an hour the two wastelanders were stabilized, and Anastasia sighed in exhausted satisfaction. After several grateful "thank you"s, Anastasia and Charon went down to their room to check on their stock and to get some food.

Anastasia collapsed on arrival, throwing herself down on the bed. Talking into the mattress she said,

"That was way too much stress for one day." Charon snorted, and she looked up.

"Did you just…you thought that was funny and you're still not smiling. Can you smile? Do you know how?"

"You're going crazy." Charon replied nonchalantly, handing her a box of Cram and a Nuka-Cola. She took a swig of the soda and sat up.

"You're probably right. But we're doing this anyway."

"Taking the capital building?"

"Hell yeah."

They ate in silence, ravenous with hunger.

Afterwards, Anastasia stood up.

"You need to go to sleep." Charon said, picking up their empty bottles and boxes.

"I need a fucking wash. I haven't been out of this goddamn armor in a week." Charon glanced at her. "If you really need me, I'll be on the opposite side of the reflecting pool, and make yourself known, because I'll shoot anything that doesn't talk."

Charon listened to the door close.


	7. Chapter 7 Into the Capital Building

He looked up from Nicola Tesla and You when she got back. Her hair was down, and instead of bulky armor she wore a white undershirt and shorts with her combat boots and bandana.

"The way all you people stare, it's like you never realized I was a girl before. She said loudly, and then closed the door behind her.

Charon looked back down at his book, but he wasn't reading. Anastasia dumped her armor down on the floor by her stuff, set her pistol down near the mattress and then she lay down.

Soon the sound of her soft breathing filled the silence and Charon set the book down and looked at her. Finally he mad up him mind, stepped over quietly (which is hard in combat boots) and lay down by her. She sighed and rolled over, and they both settled in.

He didn't want to wake her. She looked so at peace, but they had to do this, and he was bound by contract. So he nudged her with his foot, handed her her armor, and thy grabbed their gear: all the weapons you could possibly fit on a person, bags of ammo, stimpacks galore, and grenades. Finally, Anastasia tied up her long hair and they headed out.

The capital building was a war zone. Talon Company Mercenaries had tried to set up shop, but the Muties weren't having it. So they fought. But Anastasia and Charon held no grudges or reservations, so they didn't take sides; they just killed. Within about an hour they made it inside, but they were pinned in a storage closet off the main hall, waiting for either the Muties or mercs to win, so they could take out the wounded winners.

Finally, Charon got fed up and used one of his precious grenades to clear the hallway; they were just about to move out when a storm came on from both sides, Muties from one, mercs to the other. Nobody seemed to notice the two in the middle when they opened up fire. Charon dove fast, as did Anastasia, but she wasn't so lucky, and she caught two bullets in the leg. She landed heavily, and Charon dragged her back into the closet and covered her mouth with his hand to stifle her cries. Mercs moved past, and luckily, nobody noticed, but it was only a matter of time.

Charon injected her with two of his stimpacks and watched the flesh slowly begin to heal itself.

"You okay?" he murmured.

"You were expecting that."

"…always do."

Then they were mobile again.


	8. Chapter 8 The Night Shift

They were in deep when Anastasia finally used the last of her grenades to clear the room they were in. Charon looked through the holes in the walls, noticing that no light was coming through them.

"It's night time." Anastasia paused.

"We'll eat here and find somewhere safer to stay for the night." Charon nodded and pulled out a bottle of dirty water and some Insta-Mash. Anastasia did the same and they ate hastily, guns right by their hands, flinching at every unknown sound.

Finally they creepy down hallways and found what must've been a bathroom at one time. The sound of gunshots was distant.

"This place seems pretty saf-"

"Hello? Who there?" Charon pulled Anastasia behind the door mid-sentence and looked through the crack between the door and the frame; a huge Super Mutant master was sniffing around, a gatling-laser in his hands. He pulled Anastasia close to him to let the door swing all the way open when the Mutie entered the bathroom. They were hidden, but the silence was deafening, ready to give them away at any moment. The two held their breath.

"Come out! Time to die!" The Mutie taunted, but the two knew they'd be dead if they tried to take him out head on. Suddenly Charon felt Anastasia move, oh so slowly, and from where it rested against her leg, she brought up her sniper rifle; one of the few weapons she still had ammo for in abundance. Slowly, slowly, she brought it up to aim it at the back of the Mutant's head. He took the first shot, but fell on the second. Neither of them moved, but upon realizing it wasn't getting up, they both let out a breath of relief and crept out.

She looked at him.

"I really don't think we'll be getting much sleep tonight." Charon nodded.

"I'll take first watch."

He sat down in the corner behind the door after closing it, and reloaded his shotgun. Suddenly she came over and sat down in his lap.

"What-"

"Shut up. It'll make me feel safer." So she slept in his arms, and he held her gently, trying not to fall asleep himself.


	9. Chapter 9 Seperated

The door slammed open at about six in the morning, slamming Charon in the knee and waking them both up. They gasped awake, but held their silence, grabbing their weapons immediately. This time it was a couple of Talon Company mercs looking for a place to piss. One of them went over and kicked the Mutant's dead body.

"Musta caught a stray bullet or two to the back of his head an come in here to die. How pathetic." Charon looked down at his pistol, which was lying just out of the shadows that they were hiding in. He motioned to Anastasia to get it, and ever so slowly, she leaned over, and grabbed it, then moved backwards in the same slow manner.

"Oy, I coulda sworn I saw something move behind that door."

"You're crazy."

"Naw, seriously." One of them moved over to the door and slammed it shut.

"What the-" He was dead before he could finish, and Charon killed the second guy less than a moment later. They sat there, not moving for a moment.

"Wow. That was close." Anastasia said, looking at him. He nodded, and they both stood up. They no longer closed the bathroom door behind them than another Talon Company merc rounded the corner wielding a missile launcher, and launched a missile right at them.

Charon dove back down the hall; Anastasia drew her gun and dove forward to shoot the guy. The wall came down between them.

"CHARON!" Anastasia screamed. She heard no reply through the rubble. It wasn't budging, either. She turned back, panicking, and looted the body of the dead raider. She knew the only thing to do was to get the hell out of the capital building.

She sat down and caught her breath, trying to calm down. It'd been a while since she last adventured alone.


	10. Chapter 10 Seperate Exploration

Charon.

Of all the goddamned luck. The wall had to collapse right there. He grabbed his combat shotgun, one goal in mind; kill his way the hell out of here. Anastasia preferred stealth, but she wasn't here right now, and neither was the contract, so for the moment he was free to kill; to take his anger out. He reloaded and set off down the hall, after kicking the pile of rubble one last time.

Anastasia.

There were too many to take out by stealth and she was almost out of ammo anyway. So for now, she crept by her enemies, leaving them alive. She'd tied a sledgehammer from one of the dead Muties to her back for when she was truly out of ammo, but didn't want to use it. She could hardly lift it anyway. The constant weight of it on her back and the sting of the strap it was tied to ripping into her neck kept her focused; she could cry it out later.

Charon.

The only shells he had left were for his combat shotgun. Everything else was gone, but he was fine with that. It didn't matter, if he could just get out of here. Who's goddamn idea was this anyway? The mall will never be safe. The memorial, perhaps. The museums, with a lot of work. But the whole mall? Never.

Anastasia.

She decided that every Talon Company merc would die at her hand. After listening to them talk while creeping around, she learned that not only did someone want her for a 10,000 cap bounty, they wanted her head on a platter, and if they caught her alive, they'd get 15,000 caps. And she wasn't the only one. A lot of her friends were on that bounty list they were reading off.

Charon.

Goddamned Muties were everywhere. They're smelly, ugly and dumb and Charon would've killed them all if he wasn't extremely outnumbered. He found himself wishing for Anastasia's company, her eyes bright at the thought of making this place a refuge, and looting anything that could be looted. Why did he find himself praying to hear her voice?

Anastasia.

Damn him for diving the other way, she thought, creeping around. She'd gotten some ammo back from the bodies of the dead, but she wasn't in the mood to kill without Charon watching her back. So she just kept moving, wishing for his presence behind her, her backup plan, her safety.

Charon.

This must be the central rotunda- holy shit.

Anastasia.

Oh my god the central rotunda! What the-


	11. Chapter 11 Reunited

Anastasia spotted Charon first, and her heart leapt. The only problem was in the central rotunda a Super Mutant Behemoth towered, wreaking havoc. Bodies of both mutants and mercs littered the floor around it and at the moment it had its sights set on Charon, who was firing at it's face, just making it angrier.

"HEY UGLY!" They both looked over and Anastasia thought she saw Charon's face light up for a moment until the Behemoth decided to come after her. She dove for the nearest body and grabbed the hunting rifle out of the dead man's hand, then backed up through the archway where the behemoth couldn't follow her, and she saw Charon do the same on his side. She ran out of ammo too fast for her liking; only about twenty shots got off, so she dove through its legs and ran for the next weapon; instead she found a box full of grenades and threw all twelve of them at the monster.

Finally it roared, and toppled to the ground. Anastasia threw the empty box to the ground and ran into the rotunda. Charon strode in coolly, looking at the huge dead body settling in the grime in front of him.

Anastasia threw her arms around him. He stiffened, but placed a hand on her lower back, feeling her breath on his skin as she talked to him.

"Don't ever do that again, you big, stupid idiot." She said quietly, and he felt himself relax and stiffen at the same time when her voice reached him.

He felt himself growing hot inside, and he didn't want to be, but it was an uncontrollable flame that raged inside him. So he took a step back.

"This place isn't safe."

"You think?"

"We need to go, now. We can come back later." Anastasia looked at him; she didn't want to leave, to give up, but she knew they had little choice.

"Let's go to Underworld. I need a strong drink and a warm bed." She said, so they ventured their way out of the rotunda, each relieved to be with the other once again.


	12. Chapter 12 Underworld

Carol in Underworld ran the 'inn', and she gave Anastasia rooms for cheap if she brought news of Gob, a mutual friend of the girls. He was a ghoul who worked at a saloon in Megaton, and although he was in huge debts, he was safe and had a home, so Anastasia brought only good news with her on her trips to Underworld.

She rented two rooms; they dropped everything except their caps and went to have a few drinks.

That night, Charon lay down in the small partitioned off room and tried not to think. But silence breeds thoughts and his mind was stuck on a certain woman. He couldn't help but remember the feel of her arms, the sigh of her breath…

The door opened and he instinctually went for his gun, but it was just Anastasia.

Damn it all.

She sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Why are there never any blankets?"

"Burned in the war."

"It's freezing in here."

"No sunlight to warm it up. That's why they kept the name as Underworld."

She lay down next to him, just close enough where he could faintly feel her body heat.

"Charon?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you to do something a little weird?" He stiffened and said nothing, but looked at her. She was shivering in the dark, her silhouette quivering as if it was just barely there, about to disappear at any moment…

"Will you hold me?" It was a whispered request catching him off guard.

"If that is what you wish." He said, and she scooted closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder so that he could put his arm around her.

It was silent for a while. Her soft hair brushed up against his chin, her breath warmed his neck, and in sleep, she placed a hand on his chest, curling her body against him, his hand on her waist as he stared at the ceiling.

He was going through a million scenarios, a billion possibilities, and endless results. The worst part was his contract, his soul; his commandments detailed nothing about this. Would it be breaking the contract to kiss her? To hold her when she didn't ask? To pull off that armor she hid beneath?

"Charon?" the voice came out of the dark. He glanced down at her; she tugged gently at his dog tags. He used his free arm to take the chain from around his neck, although he did so reluctantly; the tags were important to him, but he knew she wanted to see them, and the contract said that she'd get what she wants.

Suddenly she scrambled out of bed; he heard her boots hit the floor, saw her silhouette standing. He sat up, looking at her.

"These are enclave tags." He said nothing. "Charon, where did you get these?" she demanded, holding them up, then the light from Carol's front room caught on them.

It was his name; last name smudged out, a rank, group, division.

She looked at him and he couldn't be sure but he though he'd seen the light glint off of tears in her eyes. "You're with the enclave?"


	13. Chapter 13 Charon's Past

"No." he replied, wishing more than anything for her to leave it; return the tags and lay back down with him.

"Where did you get these, then?" Charon sighed.

"They're from a long time ago." There was silence for a moment, then Anastasia sat down next to him, but stayed sitting up. He could see her body was tensed, as if she was ready to run.

"Tell me about it."

It wasn't all that long ago, but for Charon it had been lifetimes. He'd been a strong young man, ready to take on the world, playing with guns at age three, protecting his home at six. When his parents passed on he was about sixteen. He joined the Enclave after listening to Eden talk on the radio for half his life about a brighter future, the greatness of the enclave.

He'd had tons of friends, and one of his best friends, privet named Autumn introduced him to the love of his life, a young woman named Betty.

They'd been sent in to the capital to see what was left of the White House. He was lucky; he just had to patrol the borders of the operation, not go in. If he had, he'd be dead. There was a mistake when someone tried to disarm an un-detonated nuke inside the ruins, and it blew. Charon became a Ghoul from the intense blast of radiation, and was dug out of the rubble by a strange man, who trained him with the contract and started his new life. Charon still had hopes of a regular life back then, but they were dashed after Betty stopped by his temporary home at that time. She was disgusted by him, and immediately left without saying another word to him. He had wanted to re-join the military, too, but they didn't accept Ghouls.

"Bad for the Enclave image." They'd sneered at him, and so his life as a Ghoul started; being sold around to different contractors, with dog tags and meaningless memories to remind him of what he used to be.

He didn't tell Anastasia all of this, just most of it. She sighed.

"Damn the enclave." She said, and then held up the dog tags. Charon moved to take them, but instead she slipped the chain over her neck. They jingled quietly as they hit her armored chest. "You don't need to carry this weight by yourself." She said, and he looked at her.

Neither of them moved for a few minutes.

Finally he lay back down, and she scooted closer to him, and they reassumed where they had been before she'd felt the dog tags.

"Charon?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for telling me."

He sighed. He hadn't been so open with anyone before. He felt both relieved and exposed. When he didn't reply, she curled up next to him, and the dog tags jingled.


	14. Chapter 14 Revenge

When Charon woke, Anastasia wasn't next to him. She wasn't in her room either; she was drinking water with Carol in the auditorium while Snowflake brushed her hair and cutting off the split ends. She smiled at him.

"I found her." Was all she said, and at first he didn't understand, but he say the chain of the dog tags going under her armor and his heart almost stopped.

Betty…

He showed no emotion. Not when they gathered their stuff from Underworld and left. Not when they gathered their things from and said goodbye to the Lincoln Memorial residents. Not even when they approached Tenpenny Tower as the sun set that evening after a full day of travel.

"Listen, I told you: you and your ugly ass pack up and beat it, you're not wanted here!"

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Anastasia said coolly into the mic, using what she called her 'persuasion voice'. Charon shivered; he'd never admit it. But he loved it when she talked like that. After a bit of persuasion to allow Charon inside, they were opening the door to the luxurious tower.

They walked down marbled floors and over to the stairs. But before she opened the door she turned to him.

"Charon, I'm gonna make one thing clear. We're here for some revenge. But if this bitch makes you want to kill her, which she will, don't. There are better ways to hurt someone." He looked down at her. Why should she care? But nevertheless he nodded, and followed as she headed up the stairs.

A man answered the door when Anastasia knocked, and Charon thought she'd gotten the wrong room, but he glanced a woman in the background.

"I am Mitchell Worthington the third, what business do you have with me?" the man asked, condescendingly looking at Anastasia down his nose.

"Oh, I just need to talk to you in private for a minute or so." Anastasia said coyly, pulling him into the lobby at the same time she pushed Charon into the room. She led him into a small lobby area, out of sight. Charon felt himself getting slightly nervous.

"Hello." He said. Betty turned and he felt himself melt; how long had it been? He could remember kissing that face, late at night, laughing together, the dreams they'd both had…

"I am Betty Worthington, but you, ghoul, will address me as Madame, and state your business now before I call security on you." She was amazingly snobby. Charon then remembered the look on her face as she walked away from him for the last time, one of utter disgust and contempt.

"You don't recognize me." She sniffed.

"I don't waste my time around your likes, ghoul. I'd hardly-"but she stopped and glanced the man she'd spent so much time with, long summers outside Enclave camps… He scared her. "Leave, Charon."

"No." he said, angrily. He wanted to get revenge; she'd lied to him, said she'd never leave, she'd always be there… He was about to grab his shotgun when something slammed against the door behind him. He turned and took a step back, and so did Betty.

Something was fumbling with the doorknob, struggling to open the door. Suddenly it burst open and Mr. Worthington stumbled in backwards, lips locked with Anastasia. Both Charon and Betty stared. Suddenly Mitchell seemed to notice they were there and he detached from Anastasia.

"Betty…I…they told…I thought you'd gone to tea…I can explain!" He stuttered; taking his hands off Anastasia's ass a she chuckled.

"You tramp! You traitor!" Betty screeched at the two of them. She was hysterical.

"Betty, listen to me…" Mitchell tried, but Betty shook her head.

"How could you? Just…go! Go do whatever you want with that whore! I don't even care!  
Mitchell glanced at Ana who looked at him with a slightly bemused expression on her face. She pushed him toward Betty.

"He's not worth it; I've got better." She said, a sly smile on her face as She walked over to Charon and grabbed the neck of his armor, pulled him toward her and kissed him.

Charon thought he heard Mitchell whimper, but maybe it was Betty. Did it matter? He was kissing Anastasia.

Despite himself, he slid an arm around her waist and she pulled away with a sly wink.

"Come on, Charon. Let's ditch these losers." She said grinning, and they walked out. This time it was Charon that looked over his shoulder at Betty, a look of disgust on his face.


	15. Chapter 15 SOS

Anastasia laughed almost all the way back to Megaton.

"Did you see her face? What a sap, marrying that wino." Charon smiled. Anastasia noticed. "You're smiling, Charon!" she said, excitedly. He looked at her face, lit up like a child's on their birthday, and found he couldn't stop smiling. She was quiet for a moment. "You look nice when you smile. I'm glad you can, now that we got that bitch back."

Charon let her think that was why he was smiling. But he was smiling because of the most amazing kiss he'd received. He wanted more, his eyes inexplicably drawn toward her lips as she talked. So for the moment, he watched for Megaton top rise out of the dust.

They didn't make it all the way there smoothly. A group of Talon Company mercs ambushed them, attacking from atop a rocky cliff. Charon took out the first two without problem, but the third stomped on and broke Anastasia's leg. She screamed out with pain, and proceeded to blow the man's head off with a rail gun.

"Charon…see if any of them had stimpacks on 'em. I'm…out." She hissed through her teeth, holding her bloody leg. Charon got some ammo, and a sheet of paper out of them, but they had no stimpacks. So he carried her back to town, and paid a ridiculous fee to the town doctor. He watched carefully as the doctor gave her a shot that knocked her out, then as he forced the bone back into place.

"Let her rest for a day or so; it's nothing major, so she'll be fine."

Charon carried her back to the house, and opened the door with some difficulty, shutting it behind him with his foot. He decided that her bed was the best place for her, so he carried her up the stairs and opened the door.

He'd never been inn her room before, and he looked around in awe. The ceiling had strings of little lights hanging from them, giving the room a warm glow, even though it was nighttime. There was a giant teddy bear holding a smaller one on the floor by the foot of her bed; he remembered finding the big one with her in an old abandoned factory. He didn't know the story behind the other one, but it must've been old; it was practically falling apart.

He laid her on the bed gently and turned his eyes to her desk where an assortment of strange things lay; a picture of her and a man that must've been her father, then a picture of her when she was about ten with another young girl. There was a little action figure of Abe Lincoln, and his diary. There were papers and notes she'd collected on her travels, and a small tin of bee bees, sitting beside a lunchbox and a Nuka-Cola Quantum. He cast a look back at her, then closed the door and went downstairs, asked Wadsworth to make some food for him and Anastasia when she woke up, fed Dogmeat and sat down, pulling out the paper from the merc. It was a job: to capture Anastasia, dead or alive, with a substantial bonus for the latter. Charon frowned.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle myself, and with you watching my six, I'll be fine." He heard Anastasia's voice from the stairs, and there she was, standing. He stood up immediately. She smiled, and hopped down the stairs on one leg, holding the railing. He helped her over to the other chair and she sat down. She took the paper from him and looked it over, then sighed. "Why is it that when something good comes along, people want to destroy it?"

Charon handed her some purified water and remained silent. It was quiet for a while, and Charon absentmindedly scratched Dogmeat behind the ears while watching Anastasia mess with her Pip-Boy. Suddenly it started beeping and she frowned, confused.

"What does that mean?" Charon asked, almost fascinated. She shrugged.

"It's never happened before." Suddenly a young woman's voice filled the room.

"Anastasia, I'm sending out this emergency signal to you. I need your help. My father's gone crazy since you and your father left the vault, and I fear if you don't stop him soon…listen, if you still care about the vault, still consider me your friend, then help us. I changed the password to the main vault door to my name. If you still care, you'll remember it." Silence filled the room once more.

"We've got to go. I've got to help her." Anastasia immediately said, but winced when her leg touched the ground.

"You need rest; only a day, the doctor said. Then we can go." Charon said, and Anastasia looked down; she knew he was right.

"We leave tomorrow afternoon."


	16. Chapter 16 Back to Vault 101

It was torture for Anastasia, to not be able to move around and go help Amata. She listened to the message about twenty times before Charon stood up.

"Sleep, and stop messing with that thing." He helped her up the stairs, because she refused to be carried, and he watched her close the door to her bedroom.

Later, lying on the couch in the extra bedroom, he heard a different voice from the Pip-Boy. It must've been her father.

Finally as noon came the next day, Anastasia came out of her room, armored up and walking.

They walked all the way there in silence, and when she pushed the wooden gate open, Charon stared. He probably passed this hill twice a month, and there had been a vault there? It was hard to believe.

"Get your weapon ready, just in case; this is going to be very loud. Oh, and Charon? Please don't kill anyone if you can help it."

Charon almost took a few steps back; the noise was amazingly fierce from the moving of the vault door. It shook the whole cave, but Anastasia just stood there, unaffected by everything around her. She stepped forward even as the massive door was rolling aside, her gun not even out. She motioned for Charon to follow, and they both stepped into the vault. Their eyes adjusted to the dimness and everything was red; only the red emergency lights were on; and the place liked horrible.

"My god, is that you, Ana?" An old security guard lowered his gun and stepped around the corner, and Anastasia immediately hugged him.

"Officer Braun, tell me what's happened here." She said, and he did.

"The overseer has gone mad with power, child. He'll kill you if he can; the younger people in vault are planning a rebellion. They want out, Ana, and the overseer wants us to stop them at any cost." Anastasia placed her hands on his shoulders.

"No harm will come to anyone else, if I can help it. Where can I find Amata?"

"She's taken up refuge with a few others in the infirmary. Go there fast, the sooner we can resolve this issue, the better. And be on the lookout for officer Mack, he's been authorized to use deadly force."

"I have some deadly force of my own, Braun." She said as Charon stepped forward. The man's eyes opened wide. "Go back to your home and wait; it will be safer there." He immediately ran off. Anastasia turned to Charon. "I'm sorry for anything people may say…they've never been out of here, remember." Charon nodded; it wasn't anything new.

"Let's move." He replied, and Anastasia moved through the hallways quickly. She knew exactly where she was going. Finally they reached an area guarded by a tired looking man holding a machine gun. He dropped it when he saw her, and she jumped into his arms.

"Ana, oh my god, I can't believe it."

"How are you doing?"

"Well, not so good; Andy had to take over the position of doctor since your father left, and my medicine's running out." Ana reached into her pack and handed him a box of chems.

"These will do for a while." She said, kissed him on the cheek, and pulled Charon past him while he was looking down at them, murmuring his thanks.

A young woman stood in the light just ahead of them now, talking to another young African American man. She looked over and saw Anastasia, and the two were frozen for a moment, but then embraced, holding one another for a long time.

"Ana, I'm so glad you came back."

"How could I not? Tell me what I can do to help." At this, Amata looked down.

"It's my father; he believes nobody else should leave the vault, but some of them really want to; you inspired them. He's coming down hard; several people have been killed." Anastasia shook her head.

"It is a shame. I will go talk to him; there must be a peaceful way to make him stop." Amata nodded.

"Please don't hurt him. I know what he's done is wrong, but he is only trying to do what he thinks is best for the vault. Oh god!" She spotted Charon behind Anastasia and stumbled backward, trying to find the pistol lying on the desk, but Anastasia grabbed her.

"Please, he's with me." Amata looked at him wide eyed, and Charon looked away. "This is Charon. Charon, my best friend, Amata."

"Nice to meet you." Charon said flatly, and Amata immediately blushed.

"I'm so sorry for my rudeness…I just…was startled by you." Charon nodded.

"Lets go." He said to Anastasia, and she nodded.

"I'll be back. Stay safe until I return." They made their way through endless corridors, and Charon found himself slightly lost until finally Anastasia whispered, "This is it."

He nodded and moved toward the door, but Anastasia grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "I need to do this alone. Just…stay hidden until I return." Charon was silent for a moment, and then he nodded.

"Be cautious." She smiled and moved past him.


	17. Chapter 17 Conversations

She came out fifteen minutes later, following a man who must've been the overseer. Charon silently went to her side as soon as the man had passed him. They all headed back down to the infirmary, and the man hugged his daughter.

"Amata, I've been a fool. I was so blinded by the way things were that I refused to see the way things needed to be. I've decided to pass on the position of vault overseer to you." He turned to Anastasia.

"Thank you, for showing me the folly of my ways." He turned and left the room. Amata ran over and hugged Anastasia.

"Anastasia, thank you so much! I'm going to let people come and go from the vault as they please, now. I'll clean this place up, with your help. But Ana…" Ana pulled back from her hug and took a step back. She knew her friend well enough to know when she had bad news. "I want you to stay for a day or so, help clean up and talk for a while, but then…I'll need you to leave. Your presence is even now causing commotion in he vault; there are a lot of people that consider you a traitor, a threat." Anastasia stiffened.

"I understand." Amata looked down. Amata knew it was not okay, but there wasn't anything else to say at the moment.

"You can sleep in your old apartment. I'll be up there later after things are back to normal." Ana immediately turned heel and walked out briskly. Charon followed her.

She slowed down a bit after a little while. At some point, the lights came back on, and Charon spotted the tears swelling in her eyes. Finally, they arrived at her old home, and she stepped in. As soon as the door closed behind them, she broke down, falling to the floor and covering her face with her hands. Charon didn't know what to do, so he put his hand out for her to take. She did, and then stood and cried into his shoulder.

"I…I'm sorry. I d-didn't…want you to s-see me this way…" she sobbed. He put his arms around her.

"There's no shame in crying." She sniffled and laughed, wiping her eyes.

"Thanks, Charon." She said, and hugged him tightly. He said nothing. She pulled away from him and looked around. "Nothing's changed. They left it just as it was." She murmured, walking over to her room, seeing the papers on the floor from when she'd rummaged through her desk, looking for anything helpful before she'd escaped. The covers on her bed were still thrown aside. She noticed Charon standing in the doorway. "You can come in." she said, smiling at his hesitation. "Look, this is a picture of my father and mother. This one's a bad picture of me on my 10th birthday…I'd just beaten the crap out of this kid, Butch, you can see him crying in the background. We were friends in the end; I saved his mother's life…" Anastasia suddenly became keenly aware of how close Charon was to her, looking over her shoulder at these pictures of her past… She turned to him, looking at his face.

He was quite handsome, for a ghoul. His nose and ears were gone, but otherwise his skin just seemed to have a reddish tint to it, but it was still there so he was better off than a lot of other ghouls. His eyes had a thin blue film over them, but he saw fine. Their eyes met.

He wanted so bad to kiss her, to repeat what had happened in Tenpenny Tower. Would she pull away? Did what happened in Tenpenny Tower mean anything to her?

She wished he'd just lean in and kiss her right now; she'd been bold enough to in Tenpenny Tower, emboldened by adrenaline, but at the moment all she wanted is for him to kiss her, right here, right now.

Amata knocked and entered and Anastasia moved over to meet her, leaving Charon wishing he could make up his mind about her.

They sat down in the small living room, and Anastasia found herself wishing for her own living room, not the metallic walls of the vault.

"So tell me everything; I want to know what's really out there, because my father's obviously been lying to us if you returned." Amata said but Anastasia held up a finger.

"Hold on. Charon?"

"Yes?"

"Go take a nice shower; the bathroom is right off of my father's room."

"As you wish." He said, then moved out, praying that he'd actually know how to turn it on and not have to ask.

"So…what's his deal?"

"Believe me, you'll learn about it in due time, but I'll start at the beginning, after the vault door closed behind me…"

Anastasia told her everything. Megaton, the nukes, raiders, mutants, all the people she'd met, everywhere she'd been, and how far she'd gotten on the search for her father.

"So, you know he's in this particular vault, you just can't find it?" Amata asked, and Anastasia nodded.

"I searched anywhere else that he might be; the trail goes cold. He has to be in that vault right now. From what I've heard, it never opened either. They went silent only a few weeks after the war." Amata nodded.

"I think I remember seeing a map of the vault's locations in the overseer's office. I'll get it and bring it to you tomorrow before you leave. It's not like I'll need it."

"Thanks, Amata."

"No problem, now tell me about…what's his name again?"

"Charon?" Amata nodded, and Anastasia sat back. "Where do I begin?"


	18. Chapter 18 Confessions

Charon was out of the shower at this point. He'd never had a hot shower before; it was amazing how much dirt and grime had been on him. He heard Anastasia say his name and decided to listen in while getting dressed.

"He was employed at a bar in Underworld when I met him. I guess he just stood in the corner everyday and dealt with troublemakers from what Azrukhal told me. I purchased his contract for two thousand caps, and he follows whoever holds it, so he's kind of become my bodyguard since then."

She described their travels together, their inside jokes, the times they'd slept curled in each other's arms. She described the revenge and the kiss at Tenpenny Towers, their adventures in the capital building, and she ended when they received Amata's call.

"So you haven't…y'know."

"Done anything serious with him?" Amata blushed and nodded. Anastasia smiled and shook her head. "No, I haven't." There was a beat of silence.

"Would you?"

There was a beat of silence in which Charon felt like he should perhaps stop listening, that perhaps he should just put the rest of his armor on and wait until he heard her call. But it was much too late to stop now.

"Yes." Anastasia admitted, blushing, and Charon looked at the mirror to see his own relieved smile.

"How do you judge a thing like that?" Amata said halfway to herself, and Anastasia said.

"My father said that when it's a person you should give your love to, you'd know. I think I kind of know what he meant. With Charon it's just-"

"Anastasia, you're back!" Butch burst into the room, chains on his leather jacket jingling. She stood and hugged him.

"How's your mother?"

"Good. Great. No, she's fantastic, I-wow. How are you?" Anastasia laughed at Butch's excitement.

"I'm fine. Word is you want out of the vault?"

"Hell yes. I'm so ready to ditch this place."

"You think you can take what's out there? It's not a safe place. It's hard going, really."

"I can take it!" Anastasia smiled.

"We'll see. Charon?"

"Yes?"

"Please come out here, there's someone I'd like you to meet." Butch wasn't the only one astounded when Charon walked out. He wasn't wearing all his armor, but instead his black undershirt and pants with his combat boots. It was, Anastasia realized, the first time she'd seen Charon without all his armor on, and she blushed. The shirt outlined his muscled chest and showed off his strong arms. He looked at Anastasia expectantly. "Oh, um Charon, this is Butch. He wants to leave the vault, so I'd like you to teach him to shoot. There's a practice room down in the reactor chambers, he'll show you the way." Amata looked concerned. "Come on, I was always down there when my dad taught me to shoot, where else did you think I was?"

"In your room like everyone else?" Anastasia laughed.

"Yeah, right. Charon, go with Butch, then come back here after you have dinner, alright?"

"As you wish."

As soon as the door closed behind him Amata grinned.

"Ana, your face is redder than a Nuka-Cola truck!" Anastasia punched her on the arm.

"Shut up. I'm going to take a shower of my own now. I'll meet you in the dining area." She said, and Amata nodded, then left.

Anastasia noticed the rest of Charon's armor folded neatly on the floor when she entered the bathroom. She touched it, gently, remembering the feel of it. She took off her clothes and stepped into the warm water of the shower and as she scrubbed, she couldn't help but look at the armor. She didn't know why. It was a presence in the room, and she felt exposed, behind the clear glass of the shower.

Her thoughts were stuck on Charon. She tried to concentrate on anything else, her father, megaton, anything, but she couldn't.

Okay. Places. The vault my father is in. The vault I'm in. Megaton. My home. Tenpenny Tower. Betty's room. Kissing Charon. Damn it all.

"So…you're traveling with Ana?" Charon grunted. Butch took another shot and missed the target, but only by a bit. "Have you guys done anything?"

"No. Focus. You'd be dead if this was an actual fight."

"Hey man, cool down. I just wanted to know if I still had a shot." Butch said, winking.

"You don't." There was silence while Butch reloaded, and then he fired again, hitting it dead on this time.

"So, you got your sights set?" Charon was silent for a while. He hated nosy people.

"Yes. Reload faster." Butch fired off another round, and the target swung around.

"Well, I guess that makes me your competition. May the best man win." Butch replied, and he reloaded quickly, a huge grin on his face.

Anastasia didn't want to put all her armor on, but the only other option seemed to be one of the vault jumpsuits, which she'd grown to hate. So, she stood in the bathroom in her underwear, indecisive. She pulled the chain of Charon's dog tags over her neck and brushed out her hair, which took some time seeing as she had not done so in several months. By the time she got done, she was freezing, so she pulled on her armor anyway, sighing.


	19. Chapter 19 Lights Out

She met up and sat with Amata in the dining area, where Amata had lain out a map on the table. She looked it over; the vault wasn't so far away from Megaton as she originally suspected.

"We'll head over there tomorrow, I think." She murmured, and was surprised by Charon's voice behind her.

"That area's not very safe; there were some old military convoy here, last time I was over there." He reached over her shoulder to point, and the feeling of his skin brushing up against her face gave her goose bumps.

"Alright, so what do you propose?" He sat across from her, by Amata, while Butch slid right next to her.

"I say we come in from here. It'll take a night of camping, but it'll be a lot safer."

"So, Ana, where do you usually stay?"

"I've got a house here, in Megaton." She said, circling it.

"So, when I come out of the vault…"

"Sorry, but I've got myself, Charon, Dogmeat, and my robot. There's really no room. There's a community sleep house you could probably stay at, and you can probably find a safe place in Rivet City, here." Butch nodded.

"Do you need this map, Ana?" Amata asked.

"No, I've got all this programmed into my Pip-Boy. Keep it, and maybe you can come visit me sometime. Megaton's really close, you've just got to look out for mole rats and giant ants around here." Amata nodded and rolled up the map.

"I'm going to call an early curfew tonight. I think everyone needs it. You all head to your rooms, and I'll be there to see you off tomorrow."

They parted and headed down to the sleeping quarters.

"Hey, Ana, I'll catch ya tomorrow." Butch said, hugging her. Charon grumbled. She smiled.

"We'll see. I'm an early starter." Butch walked off and Charon watched him go.

_Competition my ass._

Anastasia stretched and yawned as the intercom buzzed to life.

"Due to the recent events in the vault, we will have early curfew tonight. Lights out in five minutes, please return to your living areas. Thank you." Anastasia sighed.

"You want my dad's bed or mine?" Charon shrugged.

"Whatever you wish."

"I'll decide later." She said absentmindedly, entering the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror.

She'd changed a lot since she last paid attention to her appearance after leaving the vault. Her hair, which had been about down to her chest was almost to her waist now, long, golden curls less bouncy than they had been once. She had lost weight and developed some mildly pronounced muscles, which she was rather proud of. Her skin was more tan, although she was still amazingly pale for a wastelander, a result of years in the vault.

She turned from the mirror and noticed Charon's armor. She picked it up and carried it into the living room and looked around. Finally she heard a shuffling in her old room and saw him looking through her old pictures.

It was surreal, Anastasia thought, to see this part of her life now in her past.

_Like a character from a movie standing in your living room, you can't bring yourself to believe it_.

He looked at her and set the pictures down, and reached for the armor. She shivered slightly as his fingers met hers, only for the briefest of moments.

"Thanks."

"You may want to have it ready. I plan on leaving early tomorrow."

"Without Amata or Butch?" Anastasia looked down for a moment.

"I…I don't want another goodbye like that. I really hate that kind of thing."

"I understand." She looked at him for a moment.

"Charon, I-"

The lights went out and suddenly they were surrounded by darkness.

"You O.K.?"

"Yeah, thanks Charon. I-oh, was that your foot?"

"…yeah."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Wait is…is that you?"

"That's my arm."

"Ok, oof-no, that's the wall…right?"

"No, that's me again. You know, if you didn't make me quit smoking, I may have had a light on me."

"It was for the better. Disgusting habit. Hold on, I think my Pip-Boy has a light." Suddenly a dim glow came from her arm and Anastasia found herself mere millimeters from Charon. She took a step back, blushing.

"Lead the way." He said, and they slowly, carefully made their way to her father's queen size bed. Neither of them spoke a word; they just clambered into opposite sides. As soon as she turned her Pip-Boy light off, Anastasia sighed.

"Man, I have missed pillows and blankets." She heard Charon snort softly, and she looked over in the blackness. "Come on, admit it; this is great. I say we take this stuff when we leave. They've got extras."

"How many?"

"Blanket and pillow for me, blanket and pillow for you. All my pictures, search my dad's old office for anything I want there, and then maybe raid the kitchen for some real food."

"Damn, you wanna clear it out?"

"Yeah. I'll never come back so they can kiss my ass when I walk out the door. I hate half these people anyway."

"That's not true." Anastasia was silent, and Charon knew she was just angry about getting kicked out after she'd saved the vault.

"Why is it," She whispered, "that when something good comes along, people want to destroy it?"


	20. Chapter 20 One o' Clock am

It was, by Charon's guess, around one in the morning when she got out of bed and stumbled toward the bathroom. Charon didn't pay attention at first. Then he heard her start to cry and immediately rolled out of bed.

She was sitting on the floor, head in her hands, back against the wall. Her hair was falling out of its holder, half up, half down. She noticed him and immediately stood and went to him, falling into his arms.

"Damn her…" she sobbed, and Charon hugged her tightly. "I-it's not like I wanted to stay b-but this is where I grew up! I-I have a r-right to be here!"

"You've got a new home now. You don't need the vault." Charon said softly into her hair, still holding her.

"I-I know it's just…I feel like this p-place is all I have left of m-my mother and father." She sniffled, and Charon put his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm's length, looking her in the eyes.

"You're stronger than this." She nodded, and hiccupped.

"I know."

"Come on, let's go back to sleep."

"Let's go now."

"In an hour. You need at least a bit of sleep. Let's go."

She wrapped her arms around one of his, like a child. Charon was slightly worried; she was so much stronger than this, and suddenly she just keeps breaking down.

They got back in bed, and she scooted closer to him. He felt her soft breathing on his cheek and turned to look at her, even though the room was virtually pitch black. Almost without thinking, he placed a hand on her cheek and gently wiped away a tear with his thumb.

Anastasia felt her heart stop as she felt the blankets shift, knowing he was getting ever closer, and her lips moved soundlessly, a burning craving about to be satisfied. His hand on her face was cold, real, like an electrical current was running through her veins.

Charon wasn't going to stop now. It was much too late for that; he was on fire. She'd admitted to liking him, right? He hesitated for less than a millisecond, but his body overruled his mind as he leaned in, closing the space between them.

They kissed softly, then, realizing she wasn't pulling away, Charon pulled her into him, arms around her waist. They kissed more passionately then, tongues tangling in a desperate dance, Charon's hands tangled in Anastasia's hair. He could taste the saltiness of tears on her lips, mixed with the sweetness of her cherry lips. Anastasia had one hand grasping his arm, as if he might try to go if she let go, and the other one on his chest, feeling the grooves of his muscles through his undershirt. Minutes passed and finally they separated, both a little hungry for air, a little tired, a little surprised, and very pleased. He gazed at her black silhouette in the dark, wishing he could see her. Her hand traced his muscles and veins, feeling areas he had no skin left, scars from his battles. His hand stroked her long hair, which cascaded down his chest from where her head rested, nestled in the curve between his shoulder and his neck.

Finally they fell into a light sleep, still tangled up on each other.


	21. Chapter 21 Enslaved

True to her nature, Anastasia woke only a few hours later, and flipped on her Pip-Boy light. She used the restroom, tied up her hair and grabbed her bag. She took all her pictures and letters, and the pillow and blanket from her old bed. Soon enough Charon appeared on the edge of the light emitted by her Pip-Boy, armored up, his pack on his shoulder.

"Did you already get the blanket and pillow from in there?" He nodded. "Good. I'm almost done here, then we can move on to my dad's office.

They walked down the halls in silence, and didn't mention the night before. They passed Butch's living quarters, where his snoring was audible from the halls. Anastasia smiled, but didn't even pause.

Nobody was in the doctor's quarters, so they rummaged through it, taking some of her dad's old notes, a picture of him and Anastasia's mother, and then Anastasia pulled his favorite quote from the bible off the wall to put in her bag to find a safe behind it. She traded Charon the quote for a bobby pin and screwdriver and picked the lock in seconds flat, even in the dark.

In it was some plans for weapons, ammo and a pistol, and a bag of caps marked _for Ana_. She took it all.

Andy, the vault's Mr. Gutsy robot, was occupying the kitchen, so they just passed it up and headed for the main entrance. When they got out to the vault door they found Amata asleep in a chair by the controls.

"She knows me too well." Anastasia murmured. "But she has no idea there's a way to close and open the vault door it on the outside."

She'd foreseen a hasty getaway in her future, so Anastasia now activated the auto-release she'd placed on the outside controls and as soon as the Vault door was open wide enough for her to squeeze through, she did, and closed it behind her, glancing back at Amata jolting to consciousness.

She looked down as they walked out, and Charon opened the door for her; he knew it wasn't easy for her to leave this place behind, especially a second time.

Charon paused to go back and take the remote activation from the vault controls, and the moment he stepped outside he was aware that Anastasia wasn't there. He heard voices-lots of them.

"So, this is her, eh? She was pretty damn easy to mezz, if you ask me. Must've been something fierce in tat cave to put her out of it like this."

"Nah ain't nutin in dere. I been past here tons of times. Fugget about it."

"Be quiet, she's comin' to!"

"What-?" Charon recognized Anastasia's voice, but it sounded distant, like she'd just woken up.

"Hey, sweetie. You hurt at all? Good."

"Here, babe. Put this necklace on, just like that, good girl." Charon's body tensed.

"Aww sweet man! She's gonna be worth so much money!"

"Shut up!"

_Slavers- that necklace must've been a slave collar!_

"Hey, you a virgin sweetie?" Charon grimaced.

"Uh, yeah."

"Bonus! You're gonna be worth billions, you know that?"

"Wha-"

"You run your sweet little ass down to Paradise falls, okay? Or that collar's gonna snap your head off, and you'll be worth a lot less than that, right?"

"Oh."

Charon heard them laugh as they started after her and opened the door just a crack to see Anastasia running toward Paradise Falls, kicking up dust for the seven slavers that jogged after her.

Fuck.


	22. Chapter 22 In The Market

He trailed them as fast as he could, but he knew showing up right after them would seem suspicious, and he had to save her. It was his responsibility; she held his contract.

Several hours later he arrived walking in a steady, confident gait, and was stopped at the gate.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Charon made a silent prayer in his head that he'd be able to charm people like Anastasia after having watched her do it so many times, then launched into his lies.

"I'm here to buy a slave."

"On whose authority?"

"Eulogy Jones'." There was silence for a moment.

"What would a ghoul want with a slave?"

"Think about it for a while. I need to talk with Eulogy." The slaver paused, then finally sat back down.

"Fine, go on, but if you cause any trouble, I'll make sure you never make it out."

Charon tried his very best to keep up his confident appearance as he marched past.

I'm here for a slave. I belong here. Jesus, there're so many…

Eulogy was, Charon was told by one of the slavers, checking the latest shipment of slaves. Charon nervously made his way down to the slave pens, where Eulogy and his two personal slave girls peered through the chain-link fence at the slaves. He talked to one of the slavers that had captured Anastasia for a while, and then walked over to Charon.

"I hear you're in the market for a slave." Charon nodded. "Well, we've just got a ton of new faces, so take a look, and tell me what you think." Charon nodded and went over to the cage. He looked around and spotted Anastasia in a corner, but feeling the slaver's eyes on his back, he let his eyes slide over her as if she was just another person, another face he'd never seen before. She did the same and casually moved over by the fence, just within earshot, so the slavers couldn't hear her, but Charon could.

"Charon, where the hell were you?"

"Getting your device. It's rare, so I figured you'd want it back."

"Okay; it's usually a few days until slaves are processed and sold, but for me, I'm pretty sure we don't have that kind of time. Get back to the house and taped to the inside of Dogmeat's collar is a key. Open the bottom drawer of my file cabinet and use the caps to buy some ammo, weapons and stimpacks. Then get back here and get me out of here."

"If that is what you wish, I will do that."

"No, you don't get it. That's not an order to be followed directly; it's an outline. Charon, for the next forty-eight hours, you are freed from the contract in order to take out Paradise Falls." Immediately Charon felt free. The mental blocks that had been drilled into his head were gone, he was a person, not a slave to his contract, and he could do anything. He looked at the girl in the pen and saw her not as his employer or master, but as a woman, eyes bleeding as she peered at him, soul brimming with hope.

"I will return." He said, turned on his heel and walked off.

Possibilities buzzed around his head like bees, he could do whatever he wanted, he had access to Anastasia's funds, and all he had to do was rescue her. He knew exactly what he would do, too; kill them all.

He didn't know exactly how or with what or even how long it would take to do but he was allowed to do anything and that's exactly what her planned on.

Eulogy walked up to him, grinning.

"You look pleased. See anything you like?"

"The blonde one." Eulogy's smile faded.

"She's rather pricey. I'm…reluctant to let that one go."

"I'm sure we can work something out."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Charon paused.

"I've got to go talk to some people. I'll return soon."

"Alright, but just keep those other ones in mind."

Charon walked out of Paradise Falls slowly, made it over the nearest hill, and started to run. He wanted to make the most of his time.


	23. Chapter 23 Preparations

Anastasia.

I'm going to be sick. There's no bathroom, no food, no boundaries. The kids on the other side of the fence were all abducted, and they're scared out of their wits. If I get out of here, I'm making sure they all come with me.

Charon.

Charon hurried into the town as soon as he reached the gats, ignoring Lucas calling,

"Where's Ana?" He didn't have time; the trip had already cost him precious hours, the trip back would probably cost more, after he'd gotten all his supplies. He burst into the house to find Wadsworth cheerfully serving Betty Mirelurk cakes.

"We have a visitor, Master Charon!"

Anastasia.

She was talking to the kids through the fence, now. The oldest one, Squirrel he called himself, was trying to take care of the other two, but Sammy, one of the younger two, was the most trusting, slave to slave, although they all feared adults in general.

"I saw a power box over by where they eat. If we could turn that off, then our collars will no longer work."

"Don't worry, kids. My friend Charon is coming to save us; He'll be here soon, I promise." Anastasia sat down, squeezing Sammy's hand through the fence reassuringly, praying that Charon was coming for her, that those forty-eight hours wasn't being spent getting as far away from her as possible.

Charon.

He called Dogmeat at the same time Betty stood up.

"Charon…"

"Here boy, here, Dogmeat!" Dogmeat scrambled down the stairs, and Charon felt around the inside of his collar, fumbling; his fingers were shaking with adrenaline and anger.

"Charon, please, listen to me, I made a mistake!" Betty cried, her silky dress swishing as she took a step toward him. Charon slid the key from the collar and drew his shotgun in one fluid movement.

"This isn't my house, so don't think I'll hesitate to blow you all over it."

Anastasia.

So one of these guys was crazy, one was depressed, but most of the slaves were just waiting, accepting their fate.

"Guys, we're getting out of here, soon, but I'll need your help."

"What's the point? Even If we do get out of here, where would we go? We're dead meat anyway." Depressed guy says. She ignores him.

"I don't have a watch, dear. You could ask somebody else for the time." Crazy guy replies, talking to the wall. She dismisses him as well. The others are in.

"My friend is coming to bail us out. He'll get these gates open, and then I'll sneak over and turn off the power supply to these collars. After that we'll provide cover fire for you, so you can get out of here."

"Hey! No talking, slave meat!" Forty calls through the fence.

Anastasia winks.

Charon.

He moves quickly up the stairs, unlocking the bottom drawer of her file cabinet found a couple of recordings, a recorder, and a huge bag of caps. He stared. Anastasia chose to live in a shithole shack here and she had over twenty thousand caps stashed away.

He lifted it up then saw something at the bottom of the drawer: a torn, raggedy corner of an old piece of paper. The bottom of the drawer was false, and in the hidden compartment contained his contract, his freedom.

"Charon?" Betty was standing in the doorway. He noticed her eying all of Anastasia's belongings, her personal photos, stuff she hardly allowed him to see, much less her. He felt angry.

Standing up and shoving the caps into his bag, he kicked the drawer close, hearing the false bottom into place, sealing him away from his contract. "Charon, please, don't ignore me!"

"Wadsworth! This woman is an intruder!" Charon exclaimed loudly.

"I say!" Wadsworth exclaimed, and Betty screamed, running for the door as her dress got singed, the burst of flame from the robot's flamer only just missing her. Charon spat into the trashcan on his way downstairs.

Good riddance.

Anastasia.

After a few hours, a lot of the male slavers had stopped by, and Anastasia had learned three new cuss words, six new sex positions, and been threatened in thirty-seven ways. She curled up in a corner, and Sammy sat next to her on the other side of the fence.

"You know, I thought all mungos were alike, but I think you'd probably fit in okay at Little Lamplight. When we get out of here, will you come visit us?" He whispered to her; the other two kids were asleep.

"I'll walk you guys home, but I don't think Charon likes kids that much. He's kind of scary looking too. He might frighten some of the little ones."

"But he's still a person, isn't he?"

"Yes, Sammy. I guess we shouldn't judge people like that." Anastasia said, and felt, for the first time since she'd left the vault, that perhaps there was some hope for the future wasteland yet.


	24. Chapter 24 Paradise Shut Down

Charon reached the gates to Paradise Falls and walked in silently. It was around ten thirty at night, and the night was silent, as if knowing what the rocket launcher he had strapped to his back was for, what he was saving his grenades for, why he was carrying twice as much shotgun ammo as he usually did.

He walked silently, and was generally ignored. He crept over to the slave pens.

"Kid, wake up!" Anastasia immediately crept over.

"I don't think I've ever been more happy to see you. Hurry, open the doors. I'll shut off the power to the collars, and we can all sneak out of here!" Charon shook his head.

"Tell everyone to get inside, where they'll be safe. I'm shutting this place down. For good." Anastasia was stunned into silence, then she motioned for him to come closer. She gave him a light kiss on the cheek through the metal wires of the fence. Charon didn't show emotion, heart pounding, and Anastasia blushed deeply.

"Don't get yourself killed." She whispered.

She woke the others soundlessly and gestured for Sammy to get the other kids inside on their side of the fence.

Charon moved over to Eulogy's pad and silently slipped in. He was using his two slave girls, so Charon silently pulled the pin out of one of his frag grenades and rolled it over to the bed. They were all dead before they realized what it was. Charon now headed up to the balcony. Apparently, nobody had heard the explosion yet.

They'll sure as hell hear this.

Charon used his missile launcher to kill a sentry armed with a minigun, and went from there. He used all his grenades right away, as the idiots all tried standing right below him and fire straight up. All he had to do was drop the down. The rest of his missiles were spent on the slavers that were streaming from the barracks, so he started taking slavers down with his combat shotgun, throwing the missile launcher aside. Suddenly, a large man wielding a super-sledge burst onto the balcony behind Charon, who swung around and took a blow to the leg. He grimaced as he heard the sickening crunch of his leg breaking, put his shotgun against the man's face and pulled the trigger. He didn't even flinch as what used to be a slaver flew everywhere in the vicinity; as long as it wasn't his blood dripping down his armor, he could care less. Finally it seemed the slavers had exhausted their supply of warm bodies. Charon injected himself with a couple of stimpacks so he could walk again, then moved to make sure Anastasia was all right.

As he walked he thought silently to himself.

Why do I care so much? Isn't this just lust?

He knew it wasn't. He shook his head and sighed as he shot the locks off the doors to the slave pens.

Anastasia stood up, and went to hug him, but stopped.

"Charon, you're covered in blood!" He looked down. He really was. He looked back at her, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Better theirs than mine." Anastasia sighed.

"I'm going to go get the kids. Please…find my bags and use some of the dirtier water to get some of that off so you don't scare them."

"Sure." Charon replied.

They'll probably be scared of me anyway.

Anastasia insisted that they walk the kids back to little lamplight. Charon had the right to say no, but followed her anyway. Where else would he go?

Having saved their friends, Anastasia and Charon became the first adult to gain entry to Little Lamplight in several decades. Not all the kids trusted them, but some welcomed them with open arms.

The 'mayor,' Macready allowed them to stay.

"It's too late to go out there, anyway; Muties get restless at night." Anastasia grinned at him.

"Thanks, Mayor." She said, hugging him. He blushed bright red.

"Yeah, whatever, mungo."


	25. Chapter 25 Last Few Minutes

The youngest Lamplighter, Bumble, walked Anastasia and Charon to their room.

"I don't get to do much around here, Mayor says I'm too young, and Princess says I'll just mess stuff up, but she's mean anyway. I think I could help sometimes." She said. Her footed pajamas caught on a rock and she fell, her hands clutching her teddy bear rather than going to catch her. She burst into tears, a dribble of blood escaping from a scrape on her cheek.

Before Charon could blink Anastasia was holding the little girl, cooing and mumbling comforts to the girl, who stopped crying and just sniffled into Anastasia's shoulder. Charon watched.

Must be her 'motherly instincts' or whatever they call that shit. I didn't realize…

Charon hadn't realized before that that 'kid' from the vault was actually a woman, not a little girl. Although she was newer to the wasteland, she was mature enough to handle it, to handle all the stuff she'd been through and still give everything to others, which was more than most could say.

"Mungo, you're like a mom, you know." Bumble said, sniffing.

"Call me Ana. Have you ever known your mother?"

"No," Bumble replied. "Adults drop their kids off here from Big Town. I don't really have a mommy." Anastasia was silent.

"I don't have a mommy either." Charon was startled. It hit him then, how little he knew of her, other than snippets of good deeds from the radio, and that she was looking for her father.

"Do you wanna be my mommy, sometimes when you come to visit?" Bumble asked it, nonchalantly, as if it was a regular question. Anastasia blinked, then smiled.

"Of course."

Ana held Bumble's hand all the way back to the makeshift rooms, and kissed Ana goodbye on the cheek,

"'Cause that's what mommies and kids do to say goodnight."

Charon and Anastasia found themselves alone. She smiled, wearily.

"Didn't expect to be sending the night here, of all places." Suddenly, something on Charon's armor caught her eye; a bullet hole. "Charon, you've been shot!" He grunted.

"Don't worry about it."

"That wasn't all raider blood was it?"

"Really, kid, I'm fine."

"Charon, let me see your wounds, or they'll get infected!" Anastasia demanded, tapping a finger on his armor.

"No, I'm fine."

"Charon!" She reached for a strap, and he caught her arm.

"Stop!"

"No, I need to-"

"Come on!"

"Hah!

"Damn it, kid!" Anastasia unbuckled the straps on Charon's armor and inspected his undershirt for any bullet holes, and found one.

"Alright, are we gonna do this the hard way?" Charon rolled his eyes, sighing. Truthfully, he'd love to wrestle around with her some more, but he still had his image to keep up. He took his undershirt off and stood, looking at her.

She looked at his bare chest. He was very muscled, his veins and some of his muscles exposed where he had no skin left. She could see some little indentions from his wraps, shirt and armor, and she slowly moved to him, running her fingers across his chest, almost curiously.

He watched her silently, the light from the kerosene lantern through the holes in the partition that separated them from the area of the room where the mattress was and making patterns dance across her skin, like the opposite of a ghoul, like she was being put together instead of falling apart. He lifted his hand and ran his fingers through her hair.

She finally looked up and met his eyes. The world froze, and there was nothing but them.

"You still have a few minutes left." She whispered.

"I know." He replied, touching her face lightly. He kissed her. She closed her eyes, feeling his presence all around her as he drew her close, slipping an arm around her waist, holding her tight. She put her arms around his neck. They kissed feverishly and Charon felt their tongues intertwine as his minutes slowly ticked away. Finally he gave her one more kiss, and then stepped away. "Times up." He said, feeling caged. She looked at him, silently contemplating.

"I think your watch is fast."

"What-" Anastasia smiled, placing a finger to his mouth.

"Just kiss me again, Charon." He smiled.

"As you wish."


	26. Chapter 26 Lonesome Songs

Charon steeped forward; ready to reacquaint his destroyed lips with her rosy lips, when a knock came at the door. He looked at her, and she sighed, moving to open the door. She found Macreedy standing there, arms crossed.

"Come with me, Mungo." Charon moved to follow, but the mayor stuck out his hand. "You can stay. This won't take long." Anastasia looked at him, shrugged, and followed the young boy out the door.

Charon was almost asleep on the mattress when he heard the door quietly click closed, and noticed the dull glow of Anastasia's pip-boy as she silently made her way over. He was too tired to move, so instead he just watched her as she moved to the lamp and blew out the flame. He felt the mattress shift as she crawled up next to him, putting an arm across him.

"What'd they want?" he asked her, quietly. She yawned, and he felt her breath on his skin as she responded.

"I've been elected official mother of Little Lamplight. Seems Bumble couldn't help but brag, and everyone went to Macreedy."

"What does the position entitle? We're supposed to move out tomorrow."

"Oh, I sang them all a lullaby, kissed them all goodnight, and promised to stop by regularly."

"That's a lot of kids to kiss." Anastasia kissed Charon's cheek lightly.

"Don't be jealous. Here, I'll sing to you too." Charon looked over in the blackness, searching for her outline.

"Kid-" he started, but she softly whispered the song next to him, clearly falling asleep.

**-I do not own Shed Your Love by the Helio Sequence-** "Drank the dark wine of the New York night, my shattered mind across the borderline, spent the night in someone else's arms, shed your love, shed your love…shed your love, shed your love…" She mumbled the last word, and sighed, her breathing evening out as she fell into sleep.

Charon distantly wondered where she learned the song, but his mind was more occupied on the feelings the song caused. He felt so sorry for her, her sad voice echoing through the darkness, alone.

_Maybe, if I weren't a ghoul, she'd have someone to sing with…_

But Charon knew that he wouldn't have sang even when he had the voice to, knew how his one weakness was forming words that needed to be said. So he remained silent and drifted off to sleep, her song still echoing in her ears.


	27. Chapter 27 Finding Father

It was silent, except for the occasional drip of water, in the underground settlement of Little Lamplight, when Anastasia opened her eyes. She was met with the dull glow of the kerosene lamp on the other side of the partition, which outlined Charon, who was silently getting dressed. She rolled off the bed and stood up, moving silently to him. She didn't meet his eyes, but instead reached up and helped him strap on the chest plate of his metal armor, then attach the shoulder pieces. He watched her work, contemplating.

"Charon?" she whispered, her voice sounding much louder than it actually was. Their eyes met. "Are we…together now? Like, you know…a couple?" Charon looked away.

"Whatever you wish." Anastasia sighed.

"I hate it when you do that." A little knock came at the door.

"Mommy Ana?" Bumble's voice came through the door, which Anastasia opened to find all the Lamplighters. "Are you leaving?" Anastasia laughed, and nodded.

"I have to go find my daddy now."

Charon stood by, arms crossed, as Anastasia kissed every single Lamplighter. Finally She picked up her bag and turned toward Charon when Bumble ran forward clumsily and threw her arms around his leg, hugging him. He immediately stiffened and a look of extreme concern appeared on Anastasia's face as other kids joined her. Finally, over the din of the kids' voices, she called "Alright, Charon and I have to go now!" and they headed out the front gate as all the kids waved, shouting goodbyes.

Anastasia took his hand after they'd walked a while. "Sorry about that." He grunted.

"'S okay. Kids just…aren't my thing." She smiled.

"You took it well though."

Anastasia saw the building first, and started running, and Charon followed close behind.

"Kid, that's a garage."

"My dad's in a vault under this garage, Charon, I know it!" She burst inside carelessly, and scoured the room. Charon sat on a bench and took potshots at a Rad-roach with a pistol Anastasia had given him to carry for her. Suddenly she grinned and pulled the lever on an electrical box, and the floor swung open to reveal a staircase down. She rushed down the steps and past some generators, hair flying wildly behind her. She picked the lock on a large iron door that opened to reveal a tunnel, and a large, steel vault door at the very end of it.

"Told you so." Anastasia whispered, and Charon could see her fingers shake with anticipation as she typed in the code that would open the vault. She stepped back to stand by Charon and they both drew their guns as the alarm sounded and the vault door screeched back, and rolled to the side.

Anastasia cautiously looked around.

"No blood or mess…" she murmured; it was a good sign. She opened the door and screamed when met face to…brain with a Robo-Brain.

"Welcome!" it chirruped happily in a woman's voice. Anastasia stumbled backward into Charon, heart pounding.

"It's…friendly?!" she exclaimed, looking at Charon, who shrugged. She holstered her assault rifle and stepped toward it, cautiously. It motioned toward a shelf full of vault jumpsuits.

"Please put on your vault suit before entering the tranquility lounger." Anastasia carefully lifted one up and the Robo-Brain moved away, apparently appeased. She held the suit and they began to venture through the vault. It was pristine; everything kept up meticulously by the Robo-Brains, which were, apparently, the sole inhabitants of the vault.

"Where is everyone?" Charon asked as they moved down a hallway, Anastasia looked out a window and gasped.

"I think I just found them."

The tranquility loungers turned out to be bed-like pods, hooked up to a gigantic central machine that, when turned on, let the user experience a different life, controlled by the overseer of the vault from inside. Anastasia and Charon walked around and peered into each pod, looking at the unmoving inhabitants, stepping over thick wires and highlighted cords on the ground.

"They look…dead." Anastasia tapped on the nearest monitor; there was one for each pod. "Their vitals are all fine, but a few of these people's stress levels are through the roof…" She looked old an old woman, twitching in her rest. "She's the most stressed."

"Kid…" Charon murmured, and Anastasia turned to see him looking at one of the pods. She headed over and gasped.

"That's my dad!"


	28. Chapter 28 Enter Tranquility

She looked around the pod, desperately.

"How do I get him out?" Charon looked too. They finally checked the computers.

"Oh…I have to get the overseer to shut the program down." She looked over; one lounger was empty.

"Can't be that hard, right?" Charon said, slightly confused by her hesitation.

"I just…I have a feeling that whatever's going on in there isn't good. Something's wrong…my father's logged several weeks worth of time in, but I know for a fact he only intended to stay long enough to talk to the overseer about some technology he needed for project purity…" She held up the jumpsuit; there were small plugs in the back meant for the tranquility lounger. "I guess I'll have to go in." Charon looked up and started to find Anastasia undoing the clasps on her armor, pulling it off and dropping it on the floor. He turned away from her, trying not to imagine what article of clothing he just heard unzip and hit the ground. "Here, Charon. Help me in, will you?" he heard her ask, and turned to find her standing by the open lounger, in the vault suit, which was slightly too tight, and not zipped all the way. Charon concentrated on looking his boots as he walked over to her, and helped her step up into the lounger. "Charon?" he heard her ask softly, and he looked up at her.

"What is it?" She looked down.

"I'm nervous. We don't even know what this machine does…"

"You'll be fine, kid." She smiled, and reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze. He felt her shaking.

"Just…don't leave while I'm in here, and if it looks bad, I picked this up along with my jumpsuit." She handed him a small holotape. "Use it to get into the overseer's office. If something happens, I think there's a default program that lets people out if something happens to the overseer. You understand?" Charon nodded. She leaned over and kissed him. It was silent for a moment, until a nearby Robo-brain chirped

"One person per lounger, please!" Anastasia smiled, a little nervous laugh escaping her lips as Charon stepped back and let go of her hand.

"Good luck, kid." He said, raspy voice cracking as the lounger closed around her, and her body relaxed as she slid into unconsciousness. He checked her stats as soon as the computer screen for her lounger lit up. Her stress was through the roof, but she was good and healthy. So now all that was left to do was wait. He sat down, leaning against the main machine, under Anastasia's computer, where he could see her, and starred his long wait.

xXx

Anastasia.

After ten minutes of talking around and having pretty much every resident tell her that Betty was waiting for her on the playground, she headed over. Not only was she confined to the body of a gangly thirteen year old, she was in this annoying little pink dress, and her pip boy was gone. And she was alone. He dad was nowhere to be found, and Charon was not behind her; no clumping of his combat boots, fining of his shotgun, grumbling about something. No, it was not them, it was only her.

Charon.

Charon started thinking after about ten minutes of staring at Anastasia. What else was there to do? He looked over her for the umpteenth time, wishing that he were not a ghoul. It was at about the fifteen-minute mark that he began to feel bad. He remembered when he and Anastasia had come across the settlement of Girtershade, where they met a young man that lived there purely for the purpose of seducing the town's only other resident, a naïve young woman obsessed with Nuka-cola, into having sex with him. Charon knew that he was above that, but still felt that the lust he felt toward his employer was just not appropriate.

Anastasia.

Betty was an evil, sadistic young girl who was, in fact, not a young girl at all. It was the form that a Dr. Braun, the man her father had come searching for, took on to hide from outsiders. Anastasia learned this only after being forced to make a young boy cry for Braun's own entertainment. And he'd turned her father into a dog. Although he didn't say it straight out, he'd hinted at it. He now asked her to kill one of the residents…The guy was sick.

"Make it creative." The young girl said, waving her away. Anastasia walked away. There had to be another way out, but the trail had gone cold. Suddenly an old woman ran up to her, flustered.

"You're not supposed to be here!"

Charon.

He jumped up and hit his head on the console above him when a loud beep emitted from it. He checked it, and a new bar had come up:

MASTER TERMINAL ACTIVATED

What the hell did that mean? Suddenly it happened: Anastasia's stress levels shot up higher than could possibly be healthy, and one of the screens next to Charon went red. He checked the vitals: they were dead. The terminal two pods down lit up red, then the one next to him, and the next one after that. He rushed over to Anastasia's pod and looked through the glass: although she was not conscious, still in the machine, tears ran down her face.


	29. Chapter 29 Akward Introduction

Anastasia's lounger opened only about thirty seconds later and she jolted awake, looked around, and let out a sob.

"Ch-Charon?" she choked, and he moved to her, quickly. She stumbled out of the seat and missed the second step, falling into his arms.

"You okay, kid? What happened?" He asked, bewildered.

"I-I had to kill them! I killed them all!"

"Wha-"

"It was the only way—he would've tortured them forever if I hadn't!"

"Kid-"

"I've never felt so horrible in all my life!" she bawled, and he just held her and let her cry it out. He felt horrible too, for having nothing to say. The sound of subtle footsteps came from behind him and Charon, still holding Anastasia off the ground in one arm, drew his shotgun and pointed it toward the figure emerging from the darkness into the circle of light created by Anastasia's Pip-Boy.

"Ana, sweetheart, who is this?" He heard a smart voice say as Anastasia's father stepped forward, a pistol aimed at Charon's head, worried lights flashing in his eyes.

"Dad!" She exclaimed, and ran to him as soon as her boots hit the ground. Charon watched them embrace, and felt a pang inside him.

"Ana! Are you all right? What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing! How long have you been in there? Why were you in there?"

"I'd love to tell you, honey, but I can't talk now. I have to get back to Rivet City, and discuss some things with Madis—err, Dr. Li." He let go of her and stepped away from her, but she grabbed his arm.

"Wait a second!" she commanded, frowning, and he looked back, surprised. "I didn't travel all this way, wait all this time, just to be brushed off by you! You don't know what I've gone through to get here, and I want some answers, now!" James stared at her, then sighed, and stepped back into the light.

"Your right. I'm sorry, honey. Please, ask away." She looked at him, then back at Charon, then said,

"Come on. Let's get out of this creepy place and start heading back toward Megaton. We can rest up there and get back to Rivet City the next day. " She looked at her father and said, "We'll talk when we get back to my house." His eyebrows rose.

"You have a house? Sweetie, how long were you out of the vault?"

"Since the day you left, Dad. I came out right after you, but I wasn't quite fast enough. But I'll tell you more back in Megaton." She looked at Charon. "Can you hand me my armor? I'm going to get re-dressed." He picked up her armor, which was lying by her pack and handed it to her, then stepped between her and James, crossing his arms protectively. James cleared his throat.

"Um, sweetie, aren't you going to introduce me?" Charon heard a long 'zzzzzzzzzzip' and the sound of clothes falling to the ground.

"Oh, sorry. This is Charon, my bodyguard. He's traveled with me since about a month after I got out of the vault. Hold this, please." He felt something being draped over his shoulder and grabbed it off; it was the jumpsuit. He heard her grabbing her clothes and sliding them on.

"Well…it's *ahem* nice to meet you. I hope I can get to know you better on the journey to Rivet City. That is, assuming you'll be coming?" Charon nodded. He heard the tiny 'clicks' of Ana's armor being clipped on, and finally the rustle of her picking up her pack and her weapons. She grabbed the vault suit from Charon and stuck it in her pack with a quick 'thanks.'

"Alright, let's head out!" she said, bringing out her sniper rifle. James was taken aback.

"Sweetie, are you sure you should be swinging that around? It's very dangerous!" Anastasia laughed.

"Dad, I'm not a little girl anymore. I can take care of myself." James stiffened, then nodded.

"You're right. Let's…let's get moving." Anastasia grinned, and headed for the exit, which Charon held open for her. James nodded at him as he passed by, and the three headed back out of the vault, toward the surface.


	30. Chapter 30 Talking Into the Night

"Lead the way honey, but please be careful." James said as the trio stepped out of the garage. Anastasia laughed.

"I can take care of myself, dad! Besides, that's what Charon's here for." She said, grinning jovially at him; it was clear she was overjoyed to be back with her father, her only true family. This jolly carelessness soon wore off, however; as they traveled through pre-war city area to get to Megaton the number of enemies increased considerably. Anastasia now not only had to survive the trip through crumbling city roads, but she had to protect her father, who was armed only with a small pistol. When he ran out of ammo, Anastasia yelled for Charon to "Please arm my Dad properly," while they were being shot at by a group of Muties downtown. Charon crouched behind a large pile of rubble and rummaged around in his pack while James ran over. Charon slapped an assault rifle and a stack of clips into James' hands, then immediately moved back toward the action, firing his combat shotgun with expertise as he went.

The trio pushed forward for hours, taking turns resting, reloading, repairing and eating while the other two cleared out enemies. They were about on the city's outskirts when James took his turn off, sitting, panting exhaustedly behind a partially collapsed wall. He pulled out some Dandy Boy Apples and chewed hastily, fingers shaking with adrenaline. He glanced out at Anastasia and Charon, flanking a couple of Muties. Both wore grimaces of concentration on their faces and fierceness in their movements; each pull of the trigger carefully executed, the kick of their guns accounted for, each step they took sure and unafraid. They both moved fluidly, an unspoken understanding communicated through nods and subtle motions as they killed all opposing them with a quick merciful shot from their guns. James understood then that they were more than a girl and her bodyguard; they were a unit, precise and deadly, one lost without the other.

They left the city and headed toward Megaton as the sun neared the horizon, casting long shadows and bathing the wastes in a warm glow.

"So where's your house?" James asked Anastasia.

"I told you, it's in Megaton."

"In Megaton? I thought you just meant near it! How'd you do it? They hardly let anyone stay in the common house, much less have a house in town."

"Oh, I disarmed an Atomic Bomb in the middle of the town. Lucas Simms gave me the key and some caps after that." James stared in disbelief at his daughter, then broke out into a loud, boisterous laugh.

"I guess all that time down on the reactor level did teach you something after all!" Anastasia laughed with him, and even Charon couldn't help but smile.

At dusk, the trio arrived at Megaton, and James witnessed at least ten people waving friendly 'hellos' and even one woman who brought her some food, praising her. Anastasia just smiled and returned the hellos, hugging the food-bringer.

"People in this town are just so nice!" she said to him, smiling gently.

They got to the house and Anastasia unlocked the door, exclaiming, "I'm so glad to be home! It's been soooo long!" Dogmeat greeted them all accordingly; with big sloppy licks and knocking over Anastasia's coat rack with his tail. Anastasia turned to Charon at one point and asked "Does…does it smell like something's been burnt?" but he just shrugged, and no more was said of the matter.

Charon took his own and Anastasia's Packs up to be unloaded while she and James sat on the twin red chairs of the living room, which had been decorated pre-war style, giving the home a warm, comforting feel. Anastasia waited a moment, watching her father taking in his new surroundings, comprehending that all this was Anastasia's, and then she finally asked the question that'd been on her mind since the moment she'd left the vault.

"So Dad, what the hell?"

xXx

Charon unloaded the guns first, listening to James apologize to his daughter for lying to her, explain that he thought she'd be safer in the vault, then listened to her heated story of the death of a friend, the death of many, and the overseer's madness. Charon unloaded the armor next, moving around the room soundlessly, putting the armor in lockers for safekeeping as James told his daughter she was a born wastelander, birthed right in Rivet City, not vault 101, then listened to Anastasia retort how she'd paid Moriarty plenty of caps for that information. Charon then brought out all the extra food and drink, unloading it into the fridge and Nuka-Cola machine, listening to James talk on and on about Project Purity, which had been both his and Anastasia's mother's dream, and how the pregnancy had pretty much brought operations to a halt, then listened to Anastasia relate the sentiments on the project from one Madison Li, who said the thing was insane, probably impossible. As Charon put away the last few odd objects the discussion ended with plans to travel to Rivet City the next day. Anastasia turned toward Charon.

"We can start unpacking now, sorry for the delay." In reply he held up the empty bags. Anastasia laughed and hugged him. "Thanks. I had no idea you were ahead of me!" She turned to James. "Dad, I have a fold out couch in the extra room you can sleep on." Charon stiffened; that was his room. All his belongings (which were few in number—he wasn't used to being allowed anything to himself) were in there. "Perhaps you'd like some dinner first?" Anastasia asked, seemingly unaware of Charon's distress.

"No thank you, sweetie. I'm very tired; I'm not used to all this traveling. I'll rest up in order to prepare for our trip tomorrow and I'll just eat in the morning." He said, and she walked him upstairs. Charon knew Anastasia would want to eat, so he cooked up some Insta-Mash and grabbed some Nuka-Cola for her, and a beer for himself.

Sure enough when Anastasia came back down she took the food from him gratefully.

"Let's go eat outside-I could use the fresh air." They both headed outside and sat at a little table Anastasia had set up when she'd first moved in. Dogmeat lay at her feet obediently, and she crossed her legs, taking a swig of cola while she looked over Megaton, all lit up. Strings of lights not unlike those in her room decorated the town and the sky displayed a beautiful full moon along with its stars.

"Well, I suppose you heard everything." She said with a sigh, looking at Charon, who nodded. Anastasia looked back at the lights, and they reflected in her eyes. "It's kind of sad that you pretty much know as much about me as I do. I feel so…lost right now…"

"I don't know that much, kid." Charon said, and took a long drink of his beer.

"When do you want to start learning?" Anastasia joked, looking down at her lap, a sad smile on her face. "It's weird. I feel exposed…and yet, I think I feel safer with you knowing, you know?" Charon said nothing, just looked at her, and she laughed softly. "No, I suppose that doesn't make any sense…"

"Nah, I understand what you mean, kid. I also know you've given away my bed, and that I'm tired." Anastasia smiled. "Sleep in mine. I'll kick you out when I come up; for now I've got some thinking to do." Charon stood up and left Anastasia staring into the moonlight, messing with his dog tags absentmindedly.


	31. Chapter 31 To Rivet City

Charon couldn't sleep. Not in Anastasia's bed; it just wasn't his place. He was filled with anticipation, glancing at the door every few seconds, waiting for her to come in. He'd put the sheets and pillows from the vault on the beds near the end of her conversation with James, but they now felt strange against skin so used to painful surfaces, the pillow seemed out of place under his head. He glanced at his armor, piled neatly by the door. He didn't know what to do with it; James was asleep in his room. So Charon laid in Anastasias bed with eyes wide open, in his black undershirt, pants and boots, simply waiting.

She came in a few hours later. She left the lights off; the moonlight coming through the holes in the walls illuminated the room with a soft glow. Charon, pretending to be asleep, watched her look at him, decide he was asleep, then start silently taking her armor off. She ended up in a tee shirt and shorts, her hair tied in a loose bun behind her head. She crawled into the small twin-size bed, and he scooted over to make room for her, putting his arm around her waist.

"What happened to kicking me out?" He asked softly, and she closed her eyes.

"I thought you were asleep, so I was going to let you stay, but if you'd rather sleep on the living room floor with Dogmeat, be my guest." She said, pulling the covers up over her shoulders and snuggling into him. She fell asleep quickly, but Charon lay awake for a while, listening to his 'owner' breathe, and wondering if freedom was still his greatest wish.

xXx

Charon left Anastasia's bedroom early the next morning, before anyone else was up. Since they had traveling to do he decided to go down to trade off some unwanted things like extra armor, broken weapons and cigarettes. Moira's wasn't open yet, so he headed down to the entrance of Megaton to see if any caravans were there. The only caravan was Crazy Wolfgang's, but he had enough caps to pay for most of the trades. Charon was left with a few bottles of booze and a carton of cigarettes when Wolfgang ran out of caps.

"Maybe there's something here worth the trade. Charon sifted through random articles of junk, pulled out some stimpacks and a 10 mm clip, but was left with a large carton of cigarettes. "Here, what about this thing?" Wolfgang asked and Charon turned to find him holding up a tarnished diamond ring. It glinted at him in the light from the sunrise, reminding him he needed to return to the house soon, but he found himself drawn to the ring.

'She'd love that…' He thought to himself, picturing her wearing it on her finger, after some cleaning of course. So he handed over the cigarettes for the ring, which he stuck in his pocket alongside the other purchases and the caps.

"Pleasure doing business with you!" Charon grumbled to himself on his way back up the hill to the house as the sun freed itself from the horizon. Passerby would've said he was saying something about a 'waste of perfectly good cigs.'

xXx

The trio headed out soon after Charon returned and Anastasia's father had woken up and eaten. They reached Rivet City near the end of the day after traveling almost identical to the day before. Exhausted, they trudged up the scaffolding and across the bridge, pausing only to give a bottle of water to a poor man on the bridge. Upon their arrival they immediately headed down to the labs to find Doctor Li.

"James?" She exclaimed, then ran over to him and hugged him. "I thought you were going to be killed! I thought you really were going back into Project Purity!" James returned the hug.

"Madison, I did go back. I went there and then traveled to one of the other vaults, to talk with a Dr. Braun about the G.E.C.K."

"What did you find?" Anastasia sighed and tuned them out, not caring in the least about what they had to say. She turned to leave, but heard her father call to her.

"Ana, sweetheart, would you mind staying here for a night? I don't know what our next plan of action will be, and I'd like you to be around, just incase I need you." Anastasia nodded.

"Sure thing, dad. I'll get a room at the hotel, and Charon and I'll be at the bar if you need us." James nodded, hugging her.

"Thanks, sweetie." He kissed her on the head and Anastasia and Charon left the lab as Madison and James struck up their conversation again.

xXx

"If he's in love with her, I'll kill that bitch." Anastasia announced as they walked down the halls. Charon looked at her, surprised.

"She doesn't seem that bad to me."

"You haven't seen her when it's just me. She's…she's a friggin' mega bitch." It was silent for a while as they navigated the maze of Rivet City.

"Would you like me to kill her? I could…make it look like an accident."

"Nah. Tempting, but my father needs her for Project Purity. But thanks for offering. I'll keep it in mind." She replied with a smile, and she placed a handful of caps into his hand.

"Get us a room, I'll meet you down at the marketplace. Oh, and here's my stuff, you can throw it in there." She said, handing him her pack. She turned and left, and Charon sighed, stepping inside the hotel.

xXx

"I'm sorry sir, but you only have enough for one room. Is that alright with you?" The computer asked, and Charon stood silent for a moment.

"That's fine." He said, and grabbed a key.

"Third door on your right, sir! Thank you for choosing the Weatherly!" Charon grumbled on his way down the hall. Leave it to that kid to pull something like this…But Charon didn't mind all that much. She was the one trying to keep up appearances, so if her father just happened to notice, what did he care?

Charon pushed the door open and threw the bags on the large, queen size bed. He sat on the edge for a moment, but immediately jumped back up, feeling a stabbing pain from his pocket; it was the ring. He'd forgotten about it after all of the battling they'd done to get to Rivet city. He tucked it inside his pack and sighed. _What a dumb idea that was…_

He headed down to the bar to find Anastasia chatting animatedly with someone. He moved closer and found himself recognizing a familiar smirk: _Butch Deloria was in Rivet City._


	32. Chapter 32 Reassurance

"Hey, you still hangin' with this old ghoulie?" Butch said, looking past Anastasia with a smirk on his face. She turned and saw Charon, then laughed.

"Don't expect me to get rid of him any time soon! I paid good money for him." She laughed again, all smiles. "I'm so glad you made it out here! I was pretty worried you'd be slaver meat by now!" she turned to face Charon again. "Isn't this great? Come on over here Charon; sit down with us! Hey, I'll be right back; I'll go grab some beers." She jumped up and practically skipped over to the bar. Charon sat.

"Hey, Charon, ain't this just _great_?" Butch asked, egging him on. Charon grimaced, feeling his teeth grind as he spat,

"Fan-fuckin'-tastic." Butch grinned.

"What's da matta? Afraid of a little…competition?"

"Alright. Beer for Charon, beer for Butch, cola for me!" Butch's smirk was immediately replaced by an over-the-top smile.

"Aw, geez, Ana! This is great. You're a real doll, ya know?" He exclaimed, taking his beer. Charon noticed him scoot closer to Anastasia after she sat down. He took his beer from her silently. Anastasia didn't seem to notice, however, she was just glad to see Butch safe.

"So what've you been doing?"

"I opened my own hair dresser's, and business is booming! This lady even brings her kids down once a week for da old once-over."

"Oh, that's great, Butch! I'm really glad you're doing well out here!"

Charon stopped listening to them. It was all "I'm _so_ happy for you!" "Aww, you're da _best_, Ana!" "Do you remember, back in the vault…?" Rather than listen and get angry at Butch, he drank his beer and watched Anastasia's smile. But eventually it dawned on him; _she's actually into him, isn't she? That's what all of this is about._

Finally, the market closed, and a security guard asked them to leave.

"Hey, I'll catch ya later, Ana." Butch said, pulling her into a hug. He winked at Charon over her shoulder, and then headed back in to close up his shop for the night.

"It was nice to see him again." Anastasia said as they made their way back to their hotel room. Charon said nothing, and Anastasia stopped abruptly, turning to face him. "Tell me what's on your mind." She demanded; he couldn't refuse her, his contract didn't allow it, so he said it.

"You like Butch, don't you?" He asked, feeling more like a schoolgirl than a six foot five ghoul. Anastasia frowned, confused.

"We're friends…"

"No, kid. You know what I mean." Anastasia smiled coyly.

"Oh my, is that…_jealousy_? Are _you _jealous of _Butch_?" Charon grimaced, but Ana smiled and took his hand. "I'm kidding, Charon. I'm not in love with Butch Deloria. I have more refined tastes. Besides, I already found somebody that I'm doing very well with, if you must know. He's a mile better than Butch, and I've never had to beat him up. Not yet, at least." They'd reached the room, which Charon unlocked, letting Anastasia in, and closing it behind them. Anastasia was behind the far end of the bed, taking off her armor and placing it in her pack. He sat down on the other side, doing the same. As he peeled the biker gloves off his hands, he found Anastasia standing in front of him. She took his pack and placed it on the floor with one hand, not taking her eyes off of him. She was, again, in a tee shirt and shorts, but there was something in the way she stood, in every movement, every curve, that sent electrical waves through Charon. She stood between his legs, looking down at him.

"What do you need, kid?" he asked. Anastasia pushed him down onto his back, and crawled onto the bed so she was on all fours, her body over his. She looked down at him and softly whispered,

"I need to show you that I don't need Butch Deloria, or anyone else."

She reached over without another word and flicked off the lamp, leaning down and kissing him. Her hair cascaded down from her shoulders, shining in the moonlight coming in from a small, round window on the other side of the wall. He placed his hands on her hips and let himself go with it. After a bit though, she rolled down onto the bed, pulling him over her, effectively switching positions. "Charon," she murmured, "is it just me, or am I doing all the work?" He smiled.

"You wish, kid." He ran his hands up to her waist, tugging at her shirt. She reached down and took it off, revealing her wrapped chest. She took his shirt off then, and ran her hands down his scarred and burned chest. He moved her hair aside carefully, and kissed his way down her neck, aware of every movement. He unclasped her bra and it fell away, onto the floor. He ran his hands down her body, kissing her neck, her stomach, her breasts, her mouth. She kissed him back; they hardly stopped to breathe, caught up in the moment, in the passion. She finally lifted his head so he was looking at her.

"Promise me you'll never doubt me again." He kissed her, slowly and softly on the lips.

"I promise you." Charon rasped breathlessly, and she smiled, kissing him again.

xXx

The sunlight was in Anastasia's eyes, and it was making her uncomfortable, so she grabbed Charon's shirt and put it over her face, snuggling into him. Wait, that's not Charon… She felt around with her hand and found what she'd been snuggling into was Charon's pack. She opened her eyes and found him packing both of their bags. He looked over at her and plucked his shirt from her face, trading it out with her own. He put his shirt on, and then looked at her lying on the bed, sleepy and half-naked.

"You…you weren't drunk, were you?"

"No, Charon, I wasn't." he allowed himself a small smile.

"Just checking." She rolled over, and then sat up, stretching; he couldn't help but look her over; long blonde hair a mess, pale skin red with hickeys, breasts exposed, shorts skewed. _All that_, he thought, _and she's still beautiful…_

She wrapped her breasts, it turned out, because of two things; a shortage of bras in the wasteland, and so she could wear armor more effectively.

"If it comes down to being good looking or living, I think I'd choose life." She said with a smile, pulling her tee shirt on after wrapping her breasts tightly. Charon stood ready, not knowing what to do. She looked up from lacing her boots. "If you're ready to go, then grab some caps and get us some food, please." He nodded and stepped out.

Walking down the hall balancing two bowls of noodles and some water, Charon could hear voices from their room. Butch and Anastasia were having a discussion about something, what he couldn't hear. He grimaced, pushing the door open with his boot.

"What do you think?" Anastasia asked him. Hair pooled around her; at least two feet worth, and now her hair curled around her face like a golden lock sunburst, just long enough to stick to her shoulders. "It's a lot easier to take car of, and I think it looks better…" Butch stood aside, putting his barber's tools away, a smirk on his face. "Well?" Anastasia asked impatiently, and Charon replied,

"Yes, I like it." Anastasia burst into laughter, happily bouncing up to him, relieving him of her breakfast with a kiss on the cheek. Charon immediately noticed Butch become rigid back in the corner, and his smirk falter for a moment.

"Well Ana, I gotta jet—the market's opening soon. See you around?"

"Of course! Come visit me in Megaton anytime! Just don't get yourself killed on the way there. Travel in groups, have spare ammo, the lot."

"Thanks Ana, you're da _best_." He grinned and walked out the door. Ana hopped into the bathroom, and Charon stepped out after Butch.

"_Hey, Deloria." Butch turned to him. "Fuck off. She's mine."_


	33. Chapter 33 Back Home

Anastasia walked slowly down the steps leading into the science labs, wearily eyeing her father, who hadn't yet noticed her presence and was talking animatedly with Dr. Li. She glanced at the stark white tables; most of them were covered with fruits and vegetables, fresh and delicious looking, each with their own respective clipboards. Anastasia had only ever read of these things; they weren't readily available in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

"Sweetheart, hello! How are you doing?" James asked when he finally noticed her.

"I'm fine, Daddy. I came to say goodbye." He frowned at her.

"What? But we've just found each other! There's still so much to talk about! You have to stay here a few days at least, let me talk with you more!" Ana smiled, and she kissed her father on the forehead.

"Dad, I have a lot I need to take care of. I have people to save, lives to make better. I'll keep in touch, I swear, but dad, I have to keep moving. It's my way." James smiled sadly.

"When did you change so much?" He murmured.

"Things can never be the same, dad. You know that." He nodded.

"I'll come visit you. I'll send letters."

"I know you will, dad. I love you."

"I love you too," he said, pulling her into him, "I love you so much, Ana." A tear slid down Anastasia's cheek.

She pulled back and smiled at him sadly, knowing it was her time to move on. Feeling the eyes of the entire science team on her, she turned and left the lab, comforted slightly by Charon's boot steps right behind her, the sound of his raspy breaths. She didn't say a word as they left Rivet City, walking into the sun across the loading bridge.

The rising sun outlined her body, and Charon walked in her shadow, into the wasteland.

Charon and Anastasia made it back to town around three in the evening, the sun in mid-decent over the wasteland sky. Anastasia told Charon to go on to the house and start to unload their packs and to take a nap to rest up.

"I've got some things to do first. I'll be there soon." Charon unloaded their packs the usual way, and lay down in his little extra bedroom, watching the sunbeams that shone through the holes in his walls creep along as the sun went down. When he woke up, he heard the sound of Anastasia making dinner; the light was pink from the sunset. They sat outside and ate across from each other, a small lantern adding light to their meal and adding its glow to the lights of Megaton, along with the stars and moon.

"I used to dream of the sky." Anastasia said, suddenly. Charon looked at her, unsure of what to say. "I'd never seen it before, and I had no idea how I knew what it looked like. It must have been a primal memory from when I was a baby." She looked up, eyes bleary with tears. Charon could hear her voice quivering. "I never thought it'd end up this way." She gave a soft laugh, and looked down again, moving her mashed potatoes around as she fought back tears. "I don't know what I was expecting…to stay in the vault with my father forever? I can't even imagine it now, yet it was so close to being a reality." She smiled at her own naivety, then stood up, taking her plate with her. "I'm going to go to bed early tonight. I have a lot to do tomorrow. I suggest you rest up too." She opened the door and stepped inside, pausing only to murmur a soft, "Good night, Charon." He sighed.

Charon, even in his pre-ghoul days, Charon wasn't talkative. Sure, he chatted with his buddies, and talked to his girl every day, but when someone else was in need of deep conversation, when they wanted someone to help them through their troubles, he never had anything much to say. What _could_ he say? His life was a piece of crap; he never had anything helpful to say.

However, as Anastasia closed the door and turned down the lanterns in the living room, he felt stupid for not speaking up.

_I know_, he wanted to say. _I know how it feels when your life doesn't turn out quite like you expected. I know how it feels when it turns out you're a different person than you used to be, and you can never go back. When you're in pain and you feel like there's nowhere else to go, nothing left to do. I know how it feels; you can lean on me. We'll get through together._

However, he sat silent, thinking over those words time and time again until he finally stood and went into the house. He put his plate in the sink, blew out the lanterns, and walked upstairs. He fixed up Dogmeat's dog bed and set Wadsworth into 'recharge' mode. He opened Anastasia's door silently and looked over her sleeping figure and whispered, almost inaudibly, "I know."


	34. NOTICE

Hello Readers! You've probably noticed I haven't updated FALLEN STARS in a while. This is for two reasons:

1) I have been SUPER busy lately and haven't gotten very much time to get on the computer and type.

2) I re-read the story...and I kinda hate it. I started it forever ago and my writing style has changed TONS.

FEAR NOT, dearest fans, for I am not abandoning the story all together; I am re-writing it as we speak. Part one will be up tonight or tomorrow, the new version will be called REQUIEM.

Thanks for all your patience, all the comments/reviews, and all of your support!

-Wolf Aerith


End file.
